‘Right to education helping kids’ health too’
February 3rd, 2011 - 8:39 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, Feb 3 (IANS) The Right to Education (RTE) Act, besides giving children between six and 14 years access to free and compulsory education, also helps their health as voluntary groups often target schools for their programmes, experts said Thursday.Deworm the World (DTW), a voluntary organisation giving deworming medicine against intestinal parasites to children between 6 to 14 years, will soon be covering the capital’s government schools and slums.
“After a year-long successful work in seven districts of Andhra Pradesh since 2009, we will now target Bihar and Delhi where our prevalence studies have been going on for quite some time,” DTW’s executive director Lesley Drake told IANS on her visit to India.
“We realised how effective health plans can be when they are pitched in with educational schemes. RTE is an important catalyst for our policy in India,” added Drake.
The NGO, in its massive action plan, stated that the programme in Bihar will be rolled out in over 67,000 schools of its 38 districts from February to April.
“Deworming is often ignored in developing nations because it does not affect the mortality rate. The need is to realise its impact on the cognitive growth of the child, his education, mental and physical abilities,” explained Drake.
The deworming schemes will also rope in the state governments and additional technical support from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
“In Delhi, our studies across slums and schools are underway, and a school-based deworming programme will be launched in identified at-risk areas later this year,” said Prerna Makkar, regional director of DTW’s south Asia wing.
“Adequate sanitation, hygienic living conditions, and safe drinking water are other key approaches to the deworming plan,” added Makkar.
- 17 million kids dewormed in Bihar - Nov 11, 2011
- Government schools battle stomach worms - Feb 20, 2012
- Many slum, civic body-run school kids have worms: Study - Sep 04, 2011
- Over 10,000 violations of Right to Education in Delhi - Dec 21, 2010
- Nearly 12,000 Right to Education violations in Delhi - Mar 27, 2011
- Unaided private schools seek amendments in RTE - Dec 22, 2011
- Over 17 percent hike in education budget (Lead) - Mar 16, 2012
- RTE not against madarsas: HRD ministry - Jul 29, 2011
- Most schools lax on corporal punishment: Study - Jan 04, 2012
- No harassment of schools over right to education: Bihar - Feb 19, 2012
- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal demand more funds for RTE - May 29, 2010
- Migration worse for urban children: UNICEF report - Feb 29, 2012
- 'Schools admitting poor students unsure of being reimbursed' - Sep 15, 2011
- RTE is not a panacea, say experts - Dec 21, 2011
- Over 21 percent hike in RTE funds - Mar 16, 2012
Tags: adequate sanitation, aiims, all india institute of medical sciences, cognitive growth, compulsory education, deworm, effective health, india institute, intestinal parasites, kids health, massive action, mortality rate, physical abilities, prevalence studies, risk areas, s south, safe drinking water, state governments, voluntary groups, voluntary organisation